Syria says foreign partners vital to modernise telecoms

• International help with infrastructure
• Fibre-optic ‘backbone’ planned
• Lifting of sanctions opens market

International partners will be vital to bringing Syria’s telecom infrastructure up to date after 14 years of civil war, according to the country’s interim minister for communication and information technology.

“In wanting our people to actually make that leap in technology, in enabling them through technology and giving them the services they deserve through technology, we are going to definitely rely on international partners,” minister Abdulsalam Haykal said on Thursday at a virtual event hosted by the Arab Center of Washington DC.

Haykal is the chief executive of Haykal Group, a technology and media-focused company based in Abu Dhabi.

“All the major operators in the region” have already reached out to the transitional government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa who announced plans last week to build SilkLink, Syria’s new national fibre-optic “backbone”.

SilkLink is slated to be developed by authorities in partnership with a consortium of international companies. On completion in an estimated 24 months, it will be 4,500 kilometres long and have a capacity of 100 terabits per second. 

The project aims to meet Syria’s domestic demand but also act as “a regional internet hub connecting north to south and west to east”, according to Haykal. 

Gulf nations have been heavily involved in supporting Syria through its delicate political and economic transition. 

Saudi Arabia and Qatar last week paid the nation’s $15.5 million outstanding debt to the World Bank. Dubai’s DP World agreed to invest $800 million to develop and operate the port of Tartous. Qatar said it would supply Syria with natural gas via Jordan.

Widespread destruction and disrepair since at least 2011 have left entire regions without functioning infrastructure from energy to transport, and have deprived citizens of “reliable access” to internet service or mobile communications, Haykal said on Thursday. 

Haykal called international sanctions on Syria a “double-whammy” which constrains much-needed foreign investment as well as international vendors’ ability to sell services and equipment to Syrian companies.

As such, he welcomed US, EU and UK pledges to lift sanctions, stating that such measures will “accelerate” Syria’s “reintegration into the global system”. 

• With sanctions lifted, Syria’s supply chain is cranking back into life
• Turkey lifts Syria trade barriers to spur growth
• IMF appoints first mission chief to Syria in 14 years

In Washington, it is not clear yet how the removal of sanctions on Syria will work in practice, or what the timeline may be.

The administration appears divided, with reports that some officials want to slow-walk the process while others want it to progress rapidly.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored the urgency of the moment at a Senate hearing this week during which he warned that the Syrian transitional government was “maybe weeks away” from “potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions”. 

“Right now, the most important thing is that partnering nations, the nations in the region, want to get aid in, want to start helping them, and they can’t because they’re afraid of our sanctions,” Rubio said.